A Study on Evaluation of Ecological Function before and after River Improvement

Abstract

In this study, the assessment scheme has been developed to evaluate the ecological function of rivers which were changed by the river improvement project. The evaluating factors are composed of physical structure in river channels and ecological connectivity in river areas, and each value of the factors is quantified based on 4 and 2 variables, respectably. This scheme was applied to past (1918, before artificial river improvement) and present Mankyung River area. A GIS model was adopted for calculating, analysing, and presenting river ecological conditions using the 204 grids and 7 reaches in study area. Comparison results show that the evaluation grade was decreased in both factors after river improvement. The main causes of lower grade (from II to IV) for physical structure are the river straightening and crossing structures. The reduction (from II to III) in ecological connectivity grade effected by linear fragmentation due to roads and rails is found to be greater than areal fragmentation due to land-use. In particular, it is also found that a high degree of ecological connectivity in 1918 was distributed along the river, but that one in 2007 showed a tendency to scatter because of the construction of levee and increase of urbanized area.